Check your home loan options

Twenty per cent of the price avoids lenders mortgage insurance and opens the sharpest rates. Most lenders will go to a 5 per cent deposit with insurance added, and the federal 5 per cent deposit guarantee lets eligible first home buyers skip the insurance. Gifts, grants and a family guarantee can all count. The check works this out from your price and deposit.

Loan-to-value ratio: the loan as a percentage of what the property is worth. A $560,000 loan on a $700,000 home is 80 per cent. Lenders price on it. Under 80 per cent usually means no lenders mortgage insurance and the widest choice of lenders; above it, fewer lenders and an insurance premium unless a guarantee covers you.

Depending on the state, a first home owner grant on a new build, a stamp duty concession or exemption, and access to the federal 5 per cent deposit guarantee. Some states add shared equity schemes. They stack, and they change often, so the broker checks which apply to you and the property before you commit.

Roughly five to six times household income after existing debts, tested at a rate about three percentage points above the actual one, then capped by your deposit and the property’s value. Two lenders can differ by six figures on the same income because they treat bonuses, overtime, rental income and living costs differently, which is where a broker earns their keep.

Photo ID, two recent payslips or two years of tax returns if you are self-employed, three months of bank statements, evidence of your deposit, and statements for any existing loans or cards. For a refinance, add your current loan statements and a rates notice. Most of it is read electronically now.

The new lender pays out the old loan and you start repaying them instead. Usually a discharge fee from the old lender, government registration fees, and sometimes an application or valuation fee with the new one; break costs can apply if you leave a fixed rate early. Many lenders offset these with a cashback or fee waiver. The broker sets the costs against the saving before you decide.

It depends on the lender, your documents and the valuation, and nobody can promise a time before a lender has assessed the application. A pre-approval is usually quicker than a full approval, and a refinance runs on a similar timeline to a purchase. The broker calls within one business day of your check, already knowing your answers, so the clock starts sooner.

No. Your answers only decide which broker should call you. Nothing is sent anywhere until you submit your details, and even then no credit enquiry happens until you authorise a specific lender application.

Licensed brokers who meet our criteria pay Your Finance Guide a partnership fee to receive enquiries from this site. The fee is paid by the broker, not by you, and is not added to your loan. You never pay us. Brokers are usually also paid a commission by the lender when a loan settles, so ask the broker you speak with how they are paid. Full details are in our Credit Guide.